Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said he won’t decide until Friday whether Quinn Ewers or Arch Manning will quarterback the nation’s No. 1 team on Saturday against Mississippi State.
Ewers left the Longhorns’ Week 3 win over UTSA with an abdominal strain and was replaced by Manning. The redshirt freshman started in Ewers’ place last weekend in a 51-3 drubbing of Louisiana-Monroe as Texas moved to 4-0.
Sarkisian told reporters Thursday that he wants Ewers, in his third season as the Longhorns starter, to have the maximum time to recover before naming his QB.
“We’re going to decide on the quarterback thing (Friday),” Sarkisian said. “It won’t be a secret. We’re not trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. Just want to give Quinn every opportunity to see if he’s ready to play and what he looks like. I’d say he’s improved every day. I think Arch has had a very good week.”
In his first college start, Manning was 15-of-29 passing for 258 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions against ULM. In relief of Ewers in the UTSA game, Manning completed 9 of 12 passes for 223 yards with four TD passes and 67-yard touchdown run.
Ewers is 19-6 as a starter at Texas. He has 6,347 career passing yards, good for seventh place in program history. His 45 passing touchdowns rank sixth.
Mississippi State will be the first-ever Southeastern Conference opponent for the Longhorns. The Bulldogs (1-3, 0-1 SEC) lost their conference opener to Florida 45-28 last Saturday and lost quarterback Blake Shapen for the season to a shoulder injury.
Freshman Michael Van Buren will get his first college start for the Bulldogs on Saturday in Austin.
